Ishelle Devries
Ishelle Devries is an Augur secretly working for Tol Shen under the tutelage of Elder Driscin Throll. Davian initially meets her on his journey towards Ilin Illan, and eventually joins forces with her to train his Augur abilities. She later joins him in his journey northward to fix the Boundary. She is quite adept with her Augur abilities, and her disruption shields are second to none, though her over-reliance on Reading others has limited her social skills somewhat. Quick-witted and sharp, her brusque exterior hides a surprisingly sensitive core. Appearance Ishelle is a remarkably beautiful young woman with a slender build and long, straight, dark hair. Davian is taken aback by her looks the first time he sees her (which she teases him for), and Wirr also considers her to be quite stunning. History Little is known of her early life. She has been living openly at Tol Shen, with the full knowledge of their Council, for the past two years, though her status as an Augur has socially isolated her from the Gifted students. Under Driscin's supervision, she honed her use of kan in pursuit of eventually repairing the rapidly deteriorating Boundary. Activities Finding Davian Ishelle first encounters Davian when his party travels towards Deilannis. Sensing another Augur, she contrives a reason to bump into him in order to grab a Trace of his Essence signature. Flabbergasted by her beauty, he apologizes for knocking into her, though she quickly disappears (likely through the use of time dilation) before anyone else sees her. After confirming his Augur status, she and Driscin form a plan to recruit him into Tol Shen at a later date. After Davian's extended stay in Deilannis, Ishelle intercepts him on his path to Ilin Illan. He initially doesn't recognize her, allowing her to engage him in a flirtatious conversation. Due to his incredible hunger, she is able to feed him a meal laced with a sedative in order to restrain him until Driscin can arrive. Davian is upset by the deception, but softens his tone once he learns that Ishelle is an Augur as well, and considers the offer to join forces with her. To her frustration, he postpones his decision, believing that he is urgently needed to help his friends in Ilin Illan. Ishelle does not get involved in the conflict against the Blind, but does visit Ilin Illan in the wake of the battle and inadvertently retains a Trace of Essence from Asha in the process. In the aftermath of the conflict, Davian leaves Ilin Illan to join her and Driscin on the way back to Tol Shen. Conflict at Tol Shen After a few weeks of training with Davian, Ishelle has grown to be good friends with the other Augur. They remain socially ostracized from the other students and endure poor treatment from the Elders, but remain in good spirits due to the recently-announced Augur amnesty. When Rohin, the only real Augur to come forward for the amnesty, arrives at Tol Shen, Ishelle is one of the first people to meet him. As she attempts to verify his status, she is unexpectedly entrapped by his unique power of Control. Given her Augur abilities, he uses her as his main enforcer to keep the rest of Tol Shen in line and to manage Davian's imprisonment within one of the Essence-blocking cells. She is present inside Davian's cell the first time he wakes up, still partially under Rohin's Control. She confesses her romantic feelings towards him, and laments his devotion to Asha, wishing that he would choose her instead. To her disappointment, Davian insists that he only has feelings for his childhood friend before passing out once more. After Erran and Fessi successfully break Davian out, she continues to help enforce Rohin's will inside the Tol. When they return to liberate it, she is duped into chasing Fessi in order to expose Rohin to a surprise attack. Though Rohin is successfully stripped of his powers, the other Augurs leave her inside Tol Shen until his Control fully wears off. Approaching the Boundary Eager to depart the Tol, she bids farewell to Driscin and sneaks out to join the other Augurs as they embark towards the Boundary. While she lacks the previous kinship shared between Davian and the two palace Augurs, she does eventually integrate into their group. After Davian repeatedly asks her for updates on Asha's whereabouts and well-being, she frustratedly leaves the campfire one night for a private stroll. This leads her into the path of an ''eletai'' swarm, who catch her unaware and impale her with several of their stingers. Davian, intending to apologize, arrives just in time to resuscitate her. Despite making a full physical recovery, Ishelle begins to show some signs of mental deviation, often spacing out for minutes at a time. She reveals to Davian that she knew the eletai would attack her at some point, but kept her Vision a secret to not burden her companions with the knowledge. Across the Boundary Once she arrives at the Boundary, she struggles to comprehend the highly complex kan mechanisms sustaining it. Additionally, she continues to be hampered by bizarre mental episodes — one of which causes her to unintentionally walk through a one-way opening leading into Talan Gol. Davian and Fessi follow to rescue her, and continue following her direction as she feels compelled to move towards a remote cave by a mysterious telepathic force. Inside, the group finds a set of Telesthaesia armour, and discovers the origin of the force: A swarm of eletai. After discovering her connection to the Banes, she leaves the cave and is sent back through the Boundary by wearing the suit of armour. Erran later arrives to escort her to Tol Athian. Defending Andarra As another year passes, Ishelle's mental condition begins to deteriorate. Tol Athian's structure is effective at removing the incessant noise of the eletai swarm, but if Ishelle leaves it for more than a few moments she is forced into a ravenous state which involves attacking those around her and frothing at the mouth. Scyner, believing he can help manage her condition, convinces her to temporarily leave the bounds of Tol Athian so he can study her connection to the eletai as they communicate with her. She complies, but finds the experience overpowering and is sent into a frenzied state. Scyner still attempts to study her, but Erran prevents him. Inadvertently, this incident manages to alert the swarm to her location in Ilin Illan, and several hundred of their number leave their hiding place in Desriel to find her. This results in a full-scale attack on the city by the eletai swarm, and causes the deaths of many of its citizens. Ishelle, still recovering, is unable to significantly help the defence. When Caeden later arrives in Tol Athian, he remarks upon her mental strength, as most people who suffer an eletai attack are assimilated right away. He is unable to cure her condition, but manages to reduce the noise so that she can safely leave the Tol. She joins Wirr's army as he rushes to stop the invading army from Desriel. While her combat abilities are severely limited, her telepathic connection to the eletai is instrumental in uncovering the location of the gil'shar army camp. With her help, Andarra's forces deactivate the large invisibility Vessels and launch a successful sneak attack to open the conflict with an advantage. As the battle rages and the odds turn against Wirr's army, she gathers her courage for one last act of self-sacrifice. Instructing Wirr to tell Davian that he missed out, she surrenders her individuality and mentally joins the eletai swarm, causing her physical body to drop dead. Immediately after, the swarm of eletai wreaking havoc on the battlefield swiftly turn on their own side, causing massive damage before they are all killed. Category:Characters Category:Augur Category:Tol Shen Category:Andarra